How do we live in Europe? What do we really know about our ‘fellow countrymen’? With its partners, Franco-German channel ARTE inaugurated an ambitious collection of twenty documentaries which explore the lives of various inhabitants of the European Union. Be they squatters, ministers, farmers or holidaymakers, they were followed by young film-makers from their country equipped only with a basic digital camera. These are entertaining portraits which both arouse our curiosity and encourage reflection, sometimes with a provocative and ironic tone.

For a year, we follow the fortunes of Starbreeze, a group of young IT maniacs who live in the far north of Sweden. They hope to hit the jackpot by creating a video game inspired by Scandinavian mythology. In order to develop the game, Gremlins, a British company, gives them £500,000. But the gaming research and marketing sector, which generates more income than the Hollywood film industry, remains indifferent to their ambitions. Gremlins is bought over by French company Infograms, the number one in European gaming. The development of Starbreeze’s game is delayed time and again, and despite encouraging rumors of a Hollywood deal thanks to the new directors, their dreams of glory and fortune are dashed.

Credits

Directed by

Hakan Berthas

Co-writers:

Colin Luke

Produced by

Cie des phares et balises & MOISAIC FILMS (G.B), Arte G.E.I.E., BBC (G.B), TV2 (DK), YLE (FIN), NPS (P.B), TV4 (SUE)

Technical information

Copyright :

2000

Running time:

26 minutes

Broadcasts :

Arte (06/27/00), BBC (U.K), TV2 (DK), YLE (FIN), NPS (NL), TV4 (SWE)